Not a lot of attention has been paid to the Asian tiger mosquito, which is another species which we believe can also transmit Zika virus. It has a much broader range. It's found all the way north into coastal areas of Connecticut, Long Island and the New York metro area.
Laura HarringtonI think this spring as the mosquito populations start to increase, we should be especially cautious about locations where we've had locally-transmitted Dengue virus. The same mosquito species that transmits Zika also transmits Dengue. It's confined primarily to Florida, South Florida, along the Gulf states and Southern Texas with a few small populations in Arizona and California.
Laura HarringtonI think that DDT holds a lot of promise. It hasn't been banned everywhere - obviously it has in the U.S. In fact, about 10 years ago, the WHO came out with a statement promoting it for public health interventions in many countries. It's cheap. It's very, very effective. We've never had an insecticide that has worked so well since. It's also safe. A lot of people don't realize that its toxicity profile for humans is low.
Laura Harrington